But you have to realize that this does not constitute "intelligence," in the sense of having a will and being able to make totally independent decisions based on accumulated experiential knowledge.

Thanks. So in short we do have the level of 'AI,' [for lack of a better term] that can self-direct and as described in the docu-fiction Alien Planet like a 4 year old must be told what's harmful and what's not but can to some degree 'learn that,' through trial and error?

Unrelated question to the TV show Alien Planet:

Is Watson as sophisticated in your opinion as HAL was as depicted in 2001?

In the show - if you haven't seen it - one of the probes is programmed to take greater risks versus the other probe by the super computer oribiting the planet performing the analysis. And they were programmed with specific objectives e.g. one probe to search for plant life and the other animal life.

I suppose that also could be programmed into our own probes on Mars - to be more cautious versus less in performing autonomous executions?